Jason Clark (rugby league)


Jason Clark is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a and forward for the Warrington Wolves in the Betfred Super League.
He played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL and played for NSW City in 2015.

Background

Clark was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Playing career

Early career

Clark played his junior football for the Coogee Randwick Wombats, representing New South Wales at under-17 level. Prior to his NRL debut, he was Souths' Toyota Cup captain, scoring 20 tries in 47 NYC games for the Rabbitohs.

2008

Clark played for South Sydney's NYC team as captain. He won the first Rabbitohs NYC Players Player award.

2009

In round 25 of the 2009 NRL season, Clark made his first grade debut for Souths in a 41-6 win over St. George Illawarra Dragons where he was a replacement, coming off the bench at hooker.

2010

Clark played in 20 matches for Souths in the 2010 NRL season playing three games at lock, one game in the second row, and the rest from the bench.

2011

In round 18, Clark scored his first NRL try in Souths 36-22 loss against Manly. Clark played in 15 matches for Souths in the 2011 NRL season.

2012

In 2012, Clark went to play a total of 23 out of 25 matches for Souths and scored one try. This was Clark's first year of making it into the finals, however Souths were knocked out of the finals in the premliminary final against Canterbury-Bankstown.

2013

On 9 February 2013, Clark captained Souths in the 2013 "Return to Redfern" clash against Papua New Guinea. His team won 38-12, with Clark scoring a double. On 22 September 2013, Clark was named on the interchange bench in the 2013 New South Wales Cup Team of the Year. Clark only played 11 games for Souths in 2013 NRL season.

2014

Clark missed the first four weeks of the 2014 NRL season with an ankle injury. He scored a try on his return in round five, where Souths beat the Dragons 26-6, he then played all games excluding one in the lead up to Souths 21st Premiership. On 5 October 2014, in South Sydney's 2014 NRL Grand Final against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Clark played off the bench in Souths 30-6 victory.

2015

Clark was named to play in South Sydney's 2015 NRL Auckland Nines squad in jersey 11. Clark played in all of the games and scored Souths first try of the tournament; against the Panthers where he was awarded a 5-point try for scoring right under the posts. Clark played in the 2015 World Club Challenge where Souths beat St. Helens 39-0. He was originally named to start at lock, however Ben Lowe started at lock and Clark moved onto the bench. On 3 May 2015, Clark played for New South Wales City against New South Wales Country in the 2015 City vs Country Origin.
On 22 May 2015, Clark played his 100th NRL first-grade game for Souths against the Parramatta Eels. On 12 June 2015, Clark played his 150th grade game for South Sydney. This includes all of his NYC games and first grade games. Clark went to play 18 NRL games in 2015 for Souths, scoring two tries. Clark was awarded the Burrow Appreciation Award for 2015 at South Sydney's annual Red and Green Ball, an award awarded to a South Sydney player every year nominated by "the burrow", a Rabbitohs supporter group.

2016

Clark started the year representing South Sydney in their 2016 Auckland Nines team, playing all three of Souths' games. In South Sydney's round 10 clash against the Parramatta Eels, Clark was involved in a head clash with Eels hooker Isaac De Gois. Both players left the field and it was revealed that Clark had 26 stitches stitched to his upper head as a result of the clash.
On 18 August, Clark extended his contract with Souths until the end of the 2018 season.
At the conclusion of the 2016 NRL season, Clark along with Sam Burgess and Kyle Turner, played in 23 of Souths' 24 matches - the most matches by any player. Despite not scoring any tries in 2016, Clark finished 4th in the team in tackles and was also second to last in missed tackles, with only 17.

2017

Clark made 15 appearances for Souths in the 2017 NRL Season. Later in the year he played 4 games for the North Sydney Bears but was recalled to The Souths team for the final game of the year against Parramatta.

2018

At the start of the 2018 season, it was revealed that Souths management had told Clark his services would not be required for the 2019 season and beyond. This prompted Souths fans to start a petition demanding that Clark would be offered a new contract to stay at the club. The petition read “Jason was told by club officials that he is no longer in their plans beyond the 2018 NRL season. Jason plays every game with pure Rabbitohs heart and he’s both fan and players favourite. We don’t want to see this amazing player leave this club, he played a big part in our 2014 premiership winning series. We absolutely CANNOT see this great talent leave. Please sign and share this petition and hopefully get this message to club officials"
In June 2018, Clark signed a two year deal to join English side Warrington. Clark was part of the Souths side that ended up finishing 3rd on the table at the end of the regular season. Clark's final game for Souths was the 13-12 elimination final victory over St George as the player picked up an injury in the match and was ruled out of the preliminary final game against Eastern Suburbs.

2019

He played in the 2019 Challenge Cup Final victory over St. Helens at Wembley Stadium.

Personal life

Clark is an Australian Apprenticeships Ambassador for the Australian Government and an Apprentice Mentor in the NRL's Trade UP With The NRL Program.
Clark has two daughters Milla and Andi.

Statistics

NRL

†Denotes seasons in which Clark won an NRL Premiership

NSW City Origin

SeasonTeamMatchesTGGK %F/GPtsWLDW-L %
2015NSW City100—000100

Records and achievements